Noted journalist Benjamin Pimentel's first novel on the plight of Filipino World War II veterans in America titled Mga Gerilya sa Powell Street will be brought to life on stage as Tanghalang Pilipino's second offering for its 22nd theater season.

While the Filipino veterans here and in the United States await for the final solution to their equity rights afforded to American soldiers during World War II, Mga Gerilya sa Powell Street is a timely story that is both funny and heartrending.

"The production is so timely," says Fernando Josef, Tanghalang Pilipino's new artistic director. "These are our heroes," he declares. "We want the Filipino public, especially the youth, to know the dilemma of our veteran soldiers and of course, our elderly."

According to Mr. Pimentel, a former writer for the San Francicso Chronicle, he had already written articles about the struggles of WWII veterans in America and the ongoing campaign of the Filipino American community to help them attain equal benefits.


In his message published in the program of Mga Gerilya, he writes: "Journalism can also go so far in telling their stories, I realized. So I turned to fiction to retell and reimagine what these men had gone through. I naturally tried to tell it in English having spent most of my writing career as a journalist working for an American newspaper. But it didn't work... so I shifted to Pilipino. Only then did the story and the characters come alive."

Adapted for stage by multi-awarded playwright, Rody Vera, Mga Gerilya tells the diverse stories of a group of Filipino veterans of the Pacific War who are habitués of San Francisco's Powell Street and are forever waiting for the full equity benefits they have lobbied for years in the U.S. Congress. Although the novel's characters are depicted in a comic, sometimes hilarious ways, the underlying seriousness of the play is brought into fore of a stranger in a strange land, while fighting another war of discontent, disillusions and disappointments.

A sure treat for students and followers of Philippine history, Mga Gerilya will be performed by the country's topnotch theater/film actors such as Tommy Abuel, Bembol Roco, Dido De La Paz, and other actors. The play will be directed by Chris Millado (the director of Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah and Insiang). Tanghalang Pilipino will stage this play from November 7 until November 30 at the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute at 8:00 p.m. (Fridays-Saturdays) and 3:00 p.m. (Saturdays-Sundays).

For ticket inquiries, please call Tanghalang Pilipino at 832-3661 or 832-1125 loc. 1620 or 1621 and look for Yvette or Paulo.